Various designs of packaging structures have been proposed, including designs having a rigid panel and a flexible film material superimposed thereon. In such designs, an object inserted between the rigid panel and the flexible film material may be held in place against the rigid panel by folding the sides of the structure to tighten the flexible film material against the object. Such immobilization-type packaging structures are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,678,695, 6,010,006, and 6,148,591 to Ridgeway et al. The use of such packaging structures is generally limited to transporting products that are not regarded as being highly breakable but for which immobilization during shipment would be nonetheless desirable (e.g., books, compact discs (CDs), digital video discs (DVDs), and the like). However, there are problems associated with the use of such designs including damage (e.g., scuffing, dulling, etc.) to the object (e.g., the dust jacket of a book) caused by rubbing between the object and the rigid panel, and damage to the object caused in transit when some portion thereof slips out from under the flexible film material and bumps against the sides of the packaging structure and/or the outer container in which the packaging structure is contained.
Additional designs of suspension packages have been proposed, including designs having a frame and a product-restraining hammock extending across a central opening in the frame. When the ends of the frame are folded to be perpendicular thereto in order to tension the hammock, a product may be suspended in the central opening. Such frame-containing suspension packages are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,894,932 and 5,975,307 to Harding et al., both of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention. While such frame-containing suspension packages are well suited for a variety of applications, such as the transportation of objects that are not regarded as highly breakable, other applications may require more effective protection against certain types of product damage (e.g., damage caused by bottom drops). Typically, applications that require additional protection include the transportation of products that are regarded as highly breakable and/or highly valuable (e.g., electronic components, optical components such as lenses, computers, and the like).
The present invention provides suspension packages and systems and methods for their use which provide solutions to the problems associated with conventional packaging structures.